Art Dorrington, the first black ice hockey player to sign a professional contract, passed away on Friday at age 87.

Art Dorrington was a scorer on the ice and a community activist off it.

Dorrington was a high-scoring forward in the old Eastern Hockey League, EasternAmateur Hockey League and International Hockey League. He played for the AtlanticCity Sea Gulls, Johnstown Jets, Washington Lions and Philadelphia Ramblers.

He tallied 163 goals and 157 assists in 345 EHL, EAHL and IHL games. His scoring prowess caught the attention of the New York Rangers. The team signed Dorrington to a professional contract in 1950, but he never appeared in a National Hockey League game.

The NHL wouldn’t see its first black player until forward Willie O’Reebroke in with the Boston Bruins in 1958.

Dorrington was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, but made Atlantic City, New Jersey, his home after his playing days were over. In 1998, he founded the Art Dorrington Ice Hockey Foundation , a non-profit program that gives the seaside city’s low-income youth a chance to learn life skills through the prism of hockey.

Art Dorrington, left, was the first black player to sign a professional contract. Willie O’Ree, right, was the NHL’s first black player. Both have ice rinks named in their honor (Photo/Tom Briglia/PhotoGraphics).

Dorrington loved Atlantic City, and the city loved him back. In 2015, Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian proclaimed March 15 as Art Dorrington Day. In 2012, city officials named the Boardwalk Hall’s ice rink after him.

“He was a true champion,” his daughter, Judah Dorrington, told The Atlantic City newspaper. “He had a major impact on this city.”

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